Look what happens when" you combine silicate chemistry] with an active imagination. How to use our zeolite cages to capture almost anything, including the sun. Sodium aluminosilicates, better known as zeolites, have been living useful lives in such unglamorous places as water treatment systems for years. Their chief attraction is that they are assiduous ion-swappers, eager to trade the sodium ions in their cage-like lattice for those of hard-water-makers like calcium. But jobs like that, which were performed primarily by natural zeolites, are strictly Clark Kent stuff compared to the Supercage tasks now being contemplated for our synthetic zeolites.
released. They fit the textbook requirements for a catalyst—ac tive and selective, but chemically and physically stable— perfectly. Once you fit your reagent and zeolite together, nothing else can squeeze in there. In effect, it's working in space—its own space. And looking farther ahead. That's why, right now, researchers are studying zeolites' uses as: "tiny time pills" for controlled release of ammonia in farm soil; delivering proteins and antibiotics; carrying pesticides; adding sweeteners to sugar beets; and removing radioactive contaminants from waste water at Three Mile Island. The potential is staggering.
A molecular space of your own. Consider a synthesized crystalline inorganic structure about one to three microns across with tightly controlled pore sizes ranging from three to nine angstroms. Because this zeolite is so ionically active, and because you can control pore size so well, you get a material unlike any other you've ever used. America's detergent makers, for instance, see in PQ's VALFOR® 100 detergent-grade zeolite, a builder and water softener that not only is low cost but also can provide a demonstrable product difference. But that's not all. Zeolites can trap, bind, and then release molecules when you want them
For instance, thanks to zeolites, solar power has just become twice as practical, because a zeolite-filled solar
collector both cools and heats. When the sun's rays hit the collector, the zeolite releases water molecules trapped in its cages—endothermically. So, when the sun is out, it cools. When the sun goes down, the zeolite reabsorbs the water— exothermically. And that chases the chill of the evening. Whether it's today in detergents and cleaning compounds or tomorrow in more esoteric uses, one thing for sure is that zeolites will be capturing a lot of things. Including, we hope, your imagination. Imagine: after 150 years, we're still finding new uses for our silicates and silicate-derived materials. And, after 150 years, we're still delivering them in consistent quality, at competitive prices. That's why you can rely on PQ.
The PQCorporation P.O. Box 840. Valley Forge. PA 19482
